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I thought she would consider it. I hoped she would run. We needed it as a country, though not for the reasons her supporters think. Via Boston Herald:
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren pledged today she will not run for president in 2016 and will finish her term. The Bay State senior senator has been mentioned in the preliminary talk about the presidential race, but Hillary Clinton has generated the most buzz. "I'm not running for president and I plan to serve out my term," she said at a press conference in Boston with Mayor-elect Marty Walsh. When further pressed, she added: "I pledge to serve out my term. "I am not running for president. I am working as hard as I can to be the best possible senator I can be."
Her putative presidential campaign may be dead, but her story lives on. And oh, what a story it was. Some might call it a Great American Fairy Tale.

LATEST NEWS

The reason there is no peace in the Middle East is that Palestinians believe this, teach it and put it on their television, via Palestinian Media Watch (h/t @haivri): Sheikh Muhammad Al-Tawil teacher in Al-Aqsa Mosque school: "What's happening at the Al-Aqsa Mosque (i.e., Temple Mount...

Martin Bashir infamously suggested that someone shit and piss in Sarah Palin's mouth because she used the (quite common) analogy of national debt to slavery. Bashir made his suggestion by way of analogy to a slave torture, stating that Palin would be a good candidate for it. Bashir apologized, then was put on vacation, and today resigned. Tommy Christopher at Mediaite has the news:
Just over two weeks ago, MSNBC host Martin Bashir delivered a harsh piece of commentary that culminated in the suggestion that someone should “s-h-i-t” in former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin‘s (R-AK) mouth. Bashir offered an abject apology on his next broadcast, but a chorus of critics continued to demand action against the host. After a reported “vacation” for the host earlier this week, Bashir announced, Wednesday afternoon, that MSNBC and Martin Bashir are parting ways. Here’s the statement from Martin Bashir, via email:

Amnesty for illegal aliens never seems to be really, truly dead, despite frequent pronouncements. The news that John Boehner has hired a former John McCain staffer involved in McCain's push for immigration reform has rekindled speculation that Boehner will go soft on the issue. Steve Dinan in The Washington Times write, Hola: Boehner prepares to push amnesty bill through House:
House Speaker John A. Boehner announced Tuesday that he has hired a longtime advocate of legalizing illegal immigrants to be an adviser, signaling that the Republican is still intent on trying to pass an immigration bill during this congressional session. Immigrant rights advocates cheered the move as a sign of Mr. Boehner’s dedication to action. Those who want a crackdown on illegal immigration said the top Republican in the House has moved closer to embracing amnesty by hiring Rebecca Tallent, a former staffer for Sen. John McCain and fellow Arizona Republican Jim Kolbe. Tallent’s hiring suggests he really does still want to push an amnesty through the House, which to me suggests that the immigration hawks still have their work cut out for them,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies. “She is a professional amnesty advocate.” Ms. Tallent is leaving a job as immigration policy director for the Bipartisan Policy Center and will join Mr. Boehner’s staff Wednesday, putting her in the center of one of the thorniest issues in Congress.
Roll Call reports, Boehner’s New Immigration Policy Director Has Deep Experience on Overhaul Efforts:

Havard's Institute of Politics just released a devastating study showing a massive drop in support among Millennials for Obama and Obamacare. Bottom line is that Millennials don't like Republicans, but for the first time they don't like Obama and Democrats almost as much. Here is the key finding in the Executive Summary (at pp. 5-6):
Additionally, we found that a majority (52%) of 18- to 29- year olds would choose to recall all members of Congress if it were possible, 45 percent would recall their member of Congress (45% would not) and approximately the same number indicate that they would recall President Obama (47% recall, 46% not recall).

Harvard Survey Fall 2013 Millenial Support Recalls

The trends lines are horrible for Democrats particularly among college age students, where the gap between Republicans and Democrats has narrowed significantly:

Just one day after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah gave a gloating television interview about the triumph of the Iranian nuclear deal, the former head of Hezbollah's rocket forces, someone involved in procuring arms from Iran, and a close associate of Nasrallah was assassinated outside his home in Beirut. Via Times of Israel:
Lebanese Shiite terrorist organization Hezbollah on Wednesday accused Israel of assassinating a top operative outside his home overnight. A statement released by Hezbollah said Hassan al-Laqis was killed near his house in Beirut as he was coming home from work. Laqis was at one point one of the main commanders of Hezbollah’s rocket division, which fired hundreds of missiles at Israel. According to reports in the Lebanese media, Israel tried to assassinate him during the 2006 Second Lebanon War and failed. A statement released by Hezbollah said Hassan al-Laqis was killed near his house in Beirut as he was coming home from work. Laqis was at one point one of the main commanders of Hezbollah’s rocket division, which fired hundreds of missiles at Israel. According to reports in the Lebanese media, Israel tried to assassinate him during the 2006 Second Lebanon War and failed.
Via WaPo:
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor denied that Israel was involved, the Associated Press reported. “Israel has nothing to do with this incident,” Palmor said. “These automatic accusations are an innate reflex with Hezbollah. They don't need evidence, they don't need facts, they just blame anything on Israel.” The commander was shot five times in the head and neck, the Lebanese Daily Star newspaper reported, citing an unidentified security official. Hezbollah said Laqees had spent his life serving the “resistance” against Israel and lost a son during the group’s 2006 war with Israel. He was previously the target of several failed assassination attempts, it said.
The Daily Star of Lebanon reports an unknown Sunni jihadist group claimed responsibility:

Really, now we're going to make estimated payments to insurance companies because healthcare.gov doesn't even have a payment system? Megyn Kelly discussed this tonight. (Video added at bottom of post.) Here's the Reuters report, Short-term fix eyed for another problem with U.S. healthcare website:
Dec 3 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's administration has found a short-term fix to pay insurance companies for plans selected on HealthCare.gov, the not-yet-complete government website used to shop for insurance required under Obama's healthcare program. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has not yet finished building the part of the website that would transfer billions of dollars in subsidies for plan premiums and cost-sharing payments to insurance companies. It is part of a long technical to-do list that has so far focused on fixing the errors and lag times in the part of the website used by consumers.... The administration is planning a "workaround" for payments, said Daniel Durham, vice president for policy and regulatory affairs at America's Health Insurance Plans. Health plans will estimate how much they are owed, and submit that estimate to the government. Once the system is built, the government and insurers can reconcile the payments made with the plan data to "true up" payments, he said.

A follow up to An increasingly dangerous presidency and More on Obama lawlessness. You can read the full testimonies at the links. The key thing is that there may be no remedy -- other than at the ballot box in 2014 -- to Obama's lawlessness. There...

The Guardian has only published about one percent of the material leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, according to statements made by the outlet's editor to a British parliamentary committee Tuesday. From the Associated Press via the Washington Post: The editor of the Guardian said Tuesday...

[WAJ Intro: There are huge developments targeting conservatives and Scott Walker supporters in Wisconsin. I asked Matt Kittle of Wisconsin Reporter, who has written extensively about the so-called "John Doe" investigations, to explain the situation to Legal Insurrection readers because of the national implications, and he kindly agreed to do this guest post.] There’s a secret war being waged in Wisconsin, and the outcome could have national ramifications on free speech and the rule of law. As first reported by Wisconsin Reporter in late October, a Democrat-led, secret probe now nearly two years in the making has targeted dozens of conservative organizations on the ground in the Badger State. The so-called John Doe investigation, which one former Federal Elections Commission member said makes the “Alien and Sedition Act mild by comparison,” has raised serious questions of partisanship and prosecutorial abuse. A Nov. 18 Wall Street Journal opinion piece, headlined “Wisconsin Political Speech Raid,” reported at least three homes had been raided, and more than 100 subpoenas had been handed out – including one that demands “all records of income received, including fundraising information and the identity of persons contributing to the corporation.” What’s it all about?

In an interview airing now on Lebanese OTV television, Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah discusses the Iranian nuclear deal (summary translation via NOW Lebanon):
The Iran nuclear deal has significant repercussions. The region’s peoples are the biggest winners from this deal because regional and international forces have been pushing for war with Iran which would have had dangerous repercussions in the region. The deal pushed off the [potential Israeli and US] war [against Iran]. Israel cannot possibly bomb nuclear facilities without the US’ green light. Monopoly of power is no longer present. All American wars have failed. John Kerry made it clear that the US does not want more wars. The US and Europe have failed in the region. It is unlikely that normalization will take place. Iranians wanted to reassure the Gulf countries, especially Saudi Arabia. [interview in progress, check link for more]
More translation at Naharnet:

A highly criticized Swiss analysis suggested a moderate possibility of polonium poisoining as the cause of Yasser Arafat's death.  Arafat's widow had requested the testing. Palestinian political officials immediately announced (as they had even before the Swiss report) that Israel was the culprit. AFP now is reporting that a French group of experts dismisses the claim of poisoning (h/t NOW English): https://twitter.com/AFP/status/407878555729928192 Arafat's death: French experts dismiss the poisoning theory  (via Google Translate):
So says a source close to the ... The experts appointed by the French justice to investigate the death of Yasser Arafat, who died in 2004 near Paris, depart the thesis of poisoning the Palestinian leader, told AFP on Tuesday a source familiar with the matter. "This report rejected the theory of poisoning and goes in the direction of a natural death," the source said, confirming information from France Inter. Recent reports of Swiss and Russian medical tests on samples of the remains of the historic Palestinian leader had revealed the presence of abnormal amounts of polonium-210 in the body and seemed to support the theory of poisoning.
Update: Al Jazeera is reporting similar findings:

From Nanette: Spotted in Kingwood, TX Absolutely love the bottom one and thought you would too! Thanks for all you do! ...

We have been covering the case of the Romeikes, devout Christians from Germany who wanted to homeschool their children because of what they perceived as the secularist agenda in German public schools. They fled and sought asylum in the U.S. after they faced mounting fines...

Protesters in Ukraine ramped up activities Monday as they blocked entrances to government offices, blocked streets, and have called for a nationwide strike.  The actions follow a weekend of protests, triggered by the Ukranian president’s refusal to sign an association agreement with the European Union. From...